AbsolutiveCase in ergative-absolutive languages marks referents that would generally be the subjects of intransitive verbs or the objects of transitive verbs in the translational equivalents of nominative-accusative languages [Anderson 1985: 181; Crystal 1985: 1; Andrews 1985: 138].

Associated with transitivity, when the action is performed by an agent (subject) on another participant (object), or with intransitivity [McIntosh 1984: 108]. Refers to the category of underived verb forms associated with the basic diathesis: Diathesis=D0:(X=SUBabs/nom) (Y=DIROBacc)
[Shibatani 1995: 7]

An adjectival, or 'adjective', is a part of speech whose members modify nouns. An adjectival specifies the attributes of a noun referent. Note: this is one case among many. Adjectivals are a class of modifiers. An adjectival may be inflected as comparitive or superlative [Crystal 1997: 8; Payne 1997: 63].

An adposition is a part of speech whose members are of a closed set and occur before or after a complement composed of a noun phrase, noun, pronoun, or clause that functions as a noun phrase and forms a single structure with the complement to express its grammatical and semantic relation to another unit within a clause [Comrie 1989: 91; Crystal 1997: 305; Payne 1997: 86].

An adverbial, or 'adverb', narrowly defined, is a part of speech whose members modify verbs for such categories as time, manner, place, or direction. An adverbal, broadly defined, is a part of speech whose members modify any constituent class of words other than nouns, such as verbs, adjectives, adverbs, phrases, clauses, or sentences. Under this definition, the possible type of modification depends on the class of the constituent being modified [Crystal 1997: 11; Payne 1997: 69].

is a short morpheme with an abstract meaning which can only be used when added to a root morpheme. These are classified in three different ways, depending on their position with reference to the root: suffix, prefix and infix. [Haspelmath 2002, 265; Crystal 1980, 17]

An affix is a short morpheme with an abstract meaning which can only be used when added to a root morpheme. These are classified in three different ways, depending on their position with reference to the root: suffix, prefix and infix. [Haspelmath 2002, 265; Crystal 1980, 17]

An affix is a short morpheme with an abstract meaning which can only be used when added to a root morpheme. These are classified in three different ways, depending on their position with reference to the root: suffix, prefix and infix. [Haspelmath 2002: 265; Crystal 1980: 17]

An affix is a morpheme with an abstract meaning which can only be used when added to a root morpheme. These are classified in four different ways, depending on their position with reference to the root: suffix, prefix, circumfix and infix. [Haspelmath 2002: 265; Crystal 1980: 17]

A grammatical gender property assigned to a class of nouns with animate denotation. In a given language it may include larger or smaller numbers of nouns which do not meet this semantic criterion. The animate gender may occur in a two-gender system, with the other gender being labeled inanimate. However, the animate gender may also occur in larger inventories (i.e. greater than two values). Examples of these larger systems are found in Bantu languages (where nouns denoting humans are included in the animate gender) and in languages of Daghestan (where the animate gender is typically for non-human animates) [Corbett 1991: 20-32].

Derives an intransitive verb from a transitive stem whereby the original agent (only) is cross-referrenced by the absolutive markers on the verb and the original patient, if it appears, is in an oblique phrase. [England 1983: 110]

This term is used to classify sounds based on their manner of articulation. Sounds possessing this trait are those in which the involved articulators approach one another, but do not produce audible friction. [Crystal 1980, 30]

This term is used to classify sounds based on their manner of articulation. Sounds possessing this trait are those in which the involved articulators approach one another, but do not produce audible friction. [Crystal 1980: 30]

This term is used to classify sounds based on their manner of articulation. Sounds possessing this trait are those in which the involved articulators approach one another, but not close enough to produce audible friction. [Crystal 1980: 30]

The term 'aspect'; designates the perspective taken on the internal temporal organization of the event, and different values of the Aspect Feature distinguish different ways of viewing the internal temporal constituency of the same event [Comrie 1976: 3ff], after [Holt 1943: 6; Bybee 2003: 157]. The 'event' is understood here as a general term covering any situation type (a state, activity, accomplishment, achievement, etc.) as expressed by the verb phrase of the construction. Unlike Tense Feature, which expresses event-external time and is deictic, Aspect Feature is event-internal and non-deictic, as it is not concerned with relating the time of the event to any other time point.
Aspect Property is assigned to clauses on the basis of semantics: an aspect value is selected for the clause from the range of aspect values available in the given language. Aspect Property is typically realised on the verb, but it may be found expressed multiply on different elements in the same clause. It may be found on more than one element of the verbal complex, or on verbs as well as certain adverbs in the same clause.
In the given language, the values of the Aspect Property are assigned to the designated elements as a consequence of semantic choice, and all the available options of particular aspect values expressing particular aspect meanings can be described with an Aspect Assignment System for that language. Since no languages have been found for which aspect values are assigned by an Aspect Distribution System (i.e. contextually, through agreement or government), Aspect Feature is not a Morphosyntactic Property. Instead, it is a Morphosemantic Property only.
NOTE: Although the semantic basis for the Aspect Property are the distinctions identified in the internal temporal constituency of an event, aspect meanings frequently combine with tense, modal or other meanings expressing actionality distinctions. Hence, markers expressing aspect values are frequently portmanteaux realising combined TAM values.

A sound is described as 'aspirated' when it has a greater rate of airflow that occurs in modal voice for a period of time before or after a stricture. It often accompanies a consonant which precedes a vowel, the beginning of which is unvoiced. [Ladefoged and Maddieson 1996: 48]

A sound is described as 'aspirated' when it has a greater rate of airflow that occurs in modal voice for a period of time before or after a stricture. It often accompanies a consonant which precedes a vowel, the beginning of which is unvoiced. [Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996: 48]

AssumptiveEvidentiality encodes the fact that the speaker came to believe the content of the expression through a possibly unsound inference procedure. That is, it is at least reasonable [Palmer 2001: 6-8].

AuditoryEvidentiality encodes the fact that the speaker came to believe the content of the expression through direct auditory experience; they heard it. This does not include spoken reported accounts, but only direct sensory evidence, such as the situation of 'hearing a tree fall' [Palmer 2001: 38].

Auxiliary is a term used to describe verbs which are subordinate to the main lexical verb and make distinctions in voice, aspect, mood and so on. Marginal auxiliaries share some of these properties, but not all. [Crystal 1985, 28]

Auxiliary is a term used to describe verbs which are subordinate to the main lexical verb and make distinctions in voice, aspect, mood and so on. Marginal auxiliaries share some of these properties, but not all. [Crystal 1985: 28]

Auxiliary is a term used to describe verbs which are used in coordination with another verb to express mood, tense or aspect of the action denoted by the main verb. Marginal auxiliaries share some of these properties, but not all. [Crystal 1985: 28; Pei & Gaynor 1980: 23]

With regard to classifications of vocal qualities, the term 'breathy' refers to an effect produced by allowing a large amount of air to pass through the partially open glottis. Some speakers have this as a permanent characteristic of their speech patterns. [Crystal 1985, 38]

With regard to classifications of vocal qualities, this refers to an effect produced by allowing a large amount of air to pass through the partially open glottis. Some speakers have this as a permanent characteristic of their speech patterns. [Crystal 1985: 38]

CaseProperty is the class of properties that concern the grammatical encoding of a noun's relationship (syntactic or semantic) to some other element in the sentence, such as a verb, noun, pronoun, or adposition [Pei and Gaynor 1954: 35; Crystal 1980: 53-54; Anderson 1985: 179-180; Andrews 1985: 7172; Kuno 1973: 45; Blake 2001].

A term referring to information regarding a publication that allows another to locate and identify it. Typical details include the title, author's name, the journal title (for articles), publication date and page numbers used in research. [Smith 2010]

A clause is a subdivision of a sentence containing a subject (argument) and predicate. It is possible to have a word that implies or refers to a predicate rather than one explicitly stated. [Pei and Gaynor 1980: 40]

A clause is a subdivision of a sentence containing a subject (argument) and predicate. It is possible to have a word that implies or refers to a predicate rather than one explicitly stated. [Pei & Gaynor 1980: 40]

Clitic is the class of units which members exhibit syntactic characteristics of a lexical unit, but show evidence of being morphologically bound to another lexical unit, the host, by being unstressed or subject to word-level phonological rules [Crystal 1980: 64; Hartmann and Stork 1972: 38; Anderson 1985: 158; Klavans 1982: xi-xiv, 74-76, 83, 93-95, 100-101; Zwicky 1977: 5].

In the classification of tongue movement when articulating vowel sounds, this refers to one produced with the tongue in the highest vertical position possible within the mouth without causing audible friction. [Crystal 1980, 64]

In the classification of tongue movement when articulating vowel sounds, this refers to one produced with the tongue in the highest vertical position possible within the mouth without causing audible friction. [Crystal 1980: 64]

Also called ImmediateFutureTense, this grammatical class names an upcoming situation which is to take place shortly after the moment of utterance [Dahl 1985: 121; Comrie 1985: 94; Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca 1994: 244-245].

One of the three types of Labial that can be associated with sounds involving lip compression involving the vertical movement of one lip towards the other. Such a property is associated with a normal bilabial stop.

When describing verbs, this is a term used to indicate expression of an unreal or unfulfilled condition. Some languages use grammatical markers or verb forms to separate real and unreal conditions. [Brown and Miller 1999: 425]

ConditionalPhysicalAbilitiveModality indicates ability of an agent to perform some action, requiring the presence of conditions external to the agent [Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca 1994: 177; Palmer 2001: 76].

A term used in the grammatical description of words to delineate a word whose primary function is to connect words or other constructions. They can be divided into two types: co-ordinating and subordinating conjunctions. [Crystal 1985, 64]

A term used in the grammatical description of words to delineate a word whose primary function is to connect words or other constructions. They can be divided into two types: co-ordinating and subordinating conjunctions. [Crystal 1985: 64]

Also known as a conjunction, a Connective is a class of parts of speech whose members syntactically link words or larger constituents, and expresses a semantic relationship between them. A conjunction is positionally fixed relative to one or more of the elements related by it, thus distinguishing it from constituents such as English conjunctive adverbs [Crystal 1997: 81].

A type of sound segment defined by closure or constriction of the vocal tract, which produces an audible friction. The vocal tract constriction does not have to result in complete blocking; it can simply be a restriction of air flow. [Crystal 1985, 66]

A type of sound segment defined by closure or constriction of the vocal tract, which produces an audible friction. The vocal tract constriction does not have to result in complete blocking; it can simply be a restriction of air flow. [Crystal 1985: 66]

A value of Aspect Property assigned to the designated element in the clause when the meaning selected for the clause is that which indicates that the situation spoken about has internal temporal structure, but the situation cannot be regarded as habitual (i.e. it cannot be regarded as a characteristic feature of a whole period). Hence, continuousness can be defined negatively as imperfectivity that is not habituality [Comrie 1976: 26-32], and it can be regarded as a sub-type of imperfectivity.
Typically, for an aspect value to be labelled as Continuous, the aspectual meaning has to minimally express continuousness, although it may additionally express other temporal, aspectual, or modal meanings, or actionality distinctions.
Continuous aspectual meaning can be further subdivided into two types: progressive meaning and nonprogressive meaning. These two aspectual meanings may or may not be grammaticalised as separate aspect values.

Properties of sounds produced with passive articulators either lying on the coronal axis, with the blade of the tongue raised from its neutral position, or in the neutral position (for non-coronal sounds). [Crystal 1980: 94]

A correlative connective is either of a pair of coordinating conjunctions (connectives) used in ordered fashion. Typically, one is used immediately before each member of a pair of constituents [Crystal 1997: 96].

A term referring to complex predicates comprised of two verbs; one of these is an auxiliary which contributes some form of meaning in the form of modality, direction, etc. They serve a similar purpose to adpositions in Indo-European languages, and are almost always translated as such. Some examples are found in some east and southeast Asian languages, as well as African languages and Hungarian. [Yang and Kuo 1998: 20]

A term referring to a vocal quality in phonetic sound classification in which only one end of the vocal cords vibrates, and does so very slowly. This is a permanent feature of some speakers' voices. [Crystal 1980: 97]

DativeCase marks 1) Indirect objects (for languages in which they are held to exist) or 2) nouns having the role of recipient (as of things given), beneficiary of an action, or possessor of an item [Crystal 1980: 102].

A demonstrative is a determiner that is used deictically to indicate a referent's spatial, temporal, or discourse location. A demonstrative functions as a modifier of a noun, or a pronoun [Crystal 1997: 312].

DerivationalUnit is the class of functional units whose members function to derive a new lexical unit from an existing one, by systematically changing the meaning and possibly altering the part of speech feature of the root or stem it attaches to [Hartmann and Stork 1972: 62; Crystal 1985: 89; Bybee 1985: 81-82, 99].

DirectEvidential, also called sensory, encodes the fact that the speaker came to believe the content of the expression by having direct sensory experience of some situation; this does not include hearing about it from someone else [Palmer 2001: 35-36].

Direct voice signals that the action proceeds in an ontologically salient way, i.e. that salience is assigned to nominals based on their referent's relative real-world capacities to control situations. [Klaiman 1991: 32]

ElativeCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location out of which another referent is moving. It has the meaning 'out of' [Lyons 1968: 299; Pei and Gaynor 1954: 64; Crystal 1985: 106].

ElativeCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location out of which another referent is moving. It has the meaning 'out of' [Lyons 1968: 299; Pei and Gaynor 1954: 64; Crystal 1985: 106].

A gender property established on the basis of agreement, to which nouns may be assigned if 1) they inherently denote females. Additionally, but not necessarily, nouns may be assigned this value if: 2) their formal properties (morphological or phonological) lead them to be assigned to the same agreement pattern as other nouns within the language that have female denotation. 3) they are arbitrarily assigned to the same agreement pattern as other nouns in the language that have female denotation [Corbett 1991].

Blocks the P or logical object (basic absolutive) nominal from being assigned Focus salience. Topic salience is available for assignment to various arguments, including the P, but Focus salience is always assigned to A, and is therefore inaccessible to P or any other nominal.
[Klaiman 1991: 236]

Blocks the P or logical object (basic absolutive) nominal from being assigned Focus salience. Topic salience is available for assignment to various arguments, including the P, but Focus salience is always assigned to A, and is therefore inaccessible to P or any other nominal. [Klaiman 1991: 236]

Used to describe the unit of rhythm in languages displaying isochrony, i.e. wehre the stressed syllables fall at apprxominately regular intervals throughout an utterance. It is an extension of the term used in traditional studies of metrical verse structure, where the many regular patterns of stressed/unstressed syllables were given a detailed classification. In a more general phonological sense, the notion is applied to any utterance in a stress-timed language, not just verse. [Crystal 1985: 123-124]

Events which are frequently repeated, differs from habitual in that it can only be based upon the observation of several occurrences of the event concerned, whereas habitual can be based upon the observation of a single occurrence [Bhat 1999: 53].

FutureInPastTense locates the situation in question in the future, relative to a contextually determined temporal reference point that itself must be located in the past relative to the moment of utterance [Comrie 1985: 128].

Describes an event that occurs after the time of speaking but before some reference point in time which also occurs after the time of speaking. This is also known as PastInFutureTense. [Comrie 1985, 126]

Describes an event that occurs after the time of speaking but before some reference point in time which also occurs after the time of speaking. This is also known as PastInFutureTense. [Comrie 1985: 126]

In some languages for which number is less dominant, the meaning of the noun can be expressed without reference to number. Nouns with this marking are designated as outside of the number system, as they are noncommittal as to the number of the noun that they mark.

In some languages for which number is less dominant, the meaning of the noun can be expressed without reference to number. Nouns with this marking are designated as outside of the number system, as they are noncommittal as to the number of the noun that they mark. [Corbett 2000: 9-10]

A value of Aspect Property assigned to the designated element in the clause when the meaning selected for the clause is that which indicates that the situation spoken about is characteristic of an extended period of time --- so extended that the situation is viewed as characteristic of the whole period. The decision that a situation is characteristic of an extended period of time is not in itself linguistic, but once it has been made, an explicitly habitual form can be used to describe it. Note that the classification of a situation as characteristic of a period of time is not derived directly from the comparison of their length or frequency; hence, the situation may be objectively either long or short, and either frequent or infrequent, with respect to the period it characterises. This is because the way we choose to characterise can involve a component which is objectively small in relation to the whole.
Typically, for an aspect value to be labelled as Habitual, the aspectual meaning has to minimally express habituality, although it may additionally express other temporal, aspectual, or modal meanings, or actionality distinctions. Habituality can in principle be combined with any other semantic aspectual values appropriate to situations that can be protracted in time or iterated [Comrie 1976: 26-32]. Since habituality is concerned with the internal temporal structure of the (extended) event, it can be regarded as a sub-type of imperfectivity.

A value of Aspect Property assigned to the designated element in the clause when the meaning selected for the clause is that which indicates that the situation spoken about is characteristic of an extended period of time -- so extended that the situation is viewed as characteristic of the whole period. The decision that a situation is characteristic of an extended period of time is not in itself linguistic, but once it has been made, an explicitly habitual form can be used to describe it. Note that the classification of a situation as characteristic of a period of time is not derived directly from the comparison of their length or frequency; hence, the situation may be objectively either long or short, and either frequent or infrequent, with respect to the period it characterises. This is because the way we choose to characterise can involve a component which is objectively small in relation to the whole.
Typically, for an aspect value to be labelled as Habitual, the aspectual meaning has to minimally express habituality, although it may additionally express other temporal, aspectual, or modal meanings, or actionality distinctions. Habituality can in principle be combined with any other semantic aspectual values appropriate to situations that can be protracted in time or iterated [Comrie 1976: 26-32]. Since habituality is concerned with the internal temporal structure of the (extended) event, it can be regarded as a sub-type of imperfectivity.

HearsayEvidentiality, also called third hand, encodes the fact that the speaker came to believe the content of the expression from a source generally considered less reliable than with a SecondHandEvidential [Palmer 2001: 40].

HesternalPastTense locates the situation in question somewhere in the span beginning with the period defined culturally as 'yesterday' and extends back through some period that is considered nonremote [Comrie 1985: 87-88; Dahl 1985: 126].

HodiernalPastTense locates the situation in question before the moment of utterance within the span culturally defined as 'today' [Comrie 1985: 87; Dahl 1985: 125-126]. Contrasts with PreHodiernalPastTense.

A grammatical category used for analysis of word-classes displaying such contrasts as masculine/feminine/neuter, animate/inanimate, etc. It is also important to distinguish natural gender, items referring to the sex of real-world entities, and grammatical gender, which has nothing to do with sex, but which has an important role in signaling grammatical relations between words in a sentence.

A grammatical category used for analysis of word-classes displaying such contrasts as masculine/feminine/neuter, animate/inanimate, etc. It is also important to distinguish natural gender, items referring to the sex of real-world entities, and grammatical gender, which has nothing to do with sex, but which has an important role in signaling grammatical relations between words in a sentence. [Crystal 1985: 133]

A value of Aspect Property assigned to the designated element in the clause when the meaning selected for the clause is that which indicates that the event spoken about is to be looked at from inside, from within its temporal boundaries; imperfective aspect is crucially concerned with the internal temporal structure of the event [Comrie 1976: 16ff].
Typically, for an aspect value to be labelled as Imperfective, the aspectual meaning has to minimally express the imperfective viewpoint, although it may additionally express other temporal, aspectual, or modal meanings, or actionality distinctions.
Imperfective aspectual meaning can be further subdivided into two types: habitual meaning and continuous meaning. These two aspectual meanings may or may not be grammaticalised as separate aspect values.

A grammatical gender property such that membership in the inanimate grammatical class is largely based on meaning, in that non-living things, such as objects of manufacture and natural 'non-living' things are included in it. For example, one of the two grammatical genders, or noun classes, of Nishnaabemwin, the other being animate [Valentine 2001: 114].

IndirectEvidentiality, also called reported, encodes the fact that the speaker came to believe the content of the expression from a source other than by experiencing the situation directly [Palmer 2001: 40].

InessiveCase expresses that the referent of the noun it marks is the location within which another referent exists. It has the meaning of 'within' or 'inside' [Lyons 1968: 299; Crystal 1985: 156]. X in Y.

InferentialEvidentiality encodes the fact that the speaker came to believe the content of the expression through some kind of internal inference procedure, e.g., deduction, abduction, induction [Palmer 2001: 6-8].

InflectionalUnit is the class of functional units whose members designate such grammatical categories as tense, aspect, mood etc. The various forms of an InflectionalUnit plus the stem forms a grammatical paradigm and express a grammatical contrast that is obligatory for its stem's part of speech in some given grammatical context. An inflectional unit does not alter the part of speech feature of the root or stem it attaches to. It is typically located farther from its Root than a derivational unit and produces a predictable, nonidiosyncratic change of meaning [Crystal 1980: 184; Hartmann and Stork 1972: 112; Bybee 1985: 2, 99].

An interjection is a part of speech, typically brief in form, such as one syllable or word, whose members are used most often as exclamations or parts of an exclamation. An interjection, typically expressing an emotional reaction, often with respect to an accompanying sentence, is not syntactically related to other accompanying expressions, and may include a combination of sounds not otherwise found in the language [Crystal 1997: 200].

Interlinear glossed text (IGT) is a linguistic data structure meant to display morphosyntactic structure: morphemes, morpheme boundaries, morpheme types (clitics, prefixes, reduplicated forms), morphosyntactic features/values and part of speech information. At a minimum, an instance of IGT includes a single line of source language followed by a translation line. Often, a second gloss line is included to show detailed morphosyntactic structure using both words and phrases from the target language and various labels, or 'grams', that indicate morphosyntactic features/values, etc. It is possible to include separate lines for the orthographic form, phonetic form, and phonological form. Standards for IGT include the Leipzig Glossing Rules.

Interrogative force indicates that the speaker lacks certain knowledge about what is expressed, and may thereby be seeking information from the hearer. In that case, it is equivalent to a type of imperative: "Tell me ...".

IterativeAspect, also called repetitives, encodes a number of events of the same type that are repeated on a particular occasion. The time interval which is relevant to the iterative is relatively shorter than in the case of the habitual [Bybee 1985: 150; Bybee, Perkins and Pagliuca 1994: 127]. Portrays events repeated on the same occasion (like the iterative knocking on the door) [Bhat 1999: 53].

A LinguisticExpression is any physical form (sound, visual image or sequence thereof) used to represent a linguistic unit. A linguistic expression may be spoken, written, or signed. A linguistic expression is distinct form the actual process (speaking, writing, signing) that produces the expression.

MainClause is the class of clauses that can stand on their own as a full, independent sentence. If a sentence contains any embedded clauses, the main clause is understood as the matrix plus the embedded clauses. In the sentence 'John thinks that Mary is sick', 'John thinks that Mary is sick' is the main clause [Crystal 2001: 231].

MainClause is the class of clauses that can stand on their own as a full, independent sentence. If a sentence contains any embedded clauses, the main clause is understood as the matrix plus the embedded clauses. In the sentence 'John thinks that Mary is sick', 'John thinks that Mary is sick' is the main clause. [Crystal 2001: 231]

MinusClick refers to not having the properties of a click. Clicks are stops in which the essential component is the rarefaction of air enclosed between two articulatory closures formed in the oral cavity, so that a loud transient is produced when the more forward closure is released. This uses the velaric airstream mechanism, always ingressive, and cannot be used for sounds other than stops and affricates. [Ladefoged and Maddieson 1996: 246]

ModalityProperty is the class of properties that concern the grammatical encoding of the status of the proposition itself, and not of the event to which the proposition refers, cf. AspectProperty [Palmer 2001: 1]. As a grammatical property, it represents those dimensions in the domains of knowledge (epistemic modality), social relations (deontic modality) and ability (abilitative modality), and possibly others.

Mora refers to the several parts of the phoneme which may receive divergent tonal treatments [Pei and Gaynor 1980: 138]. A mora also can refer to a minimal unit of metrical time equivalent to a short syllable [Crystal 1985: 198].

MorphosyntacticFeature is the class of linguistic features that govern the grammatical behavior of morphosyntactic units. E.g., two morphosyntactic units can agree according to shared morphosyntactic features. Morphosyntactic features are also called grammatical categories. This class is intended to represent only the formal aspects of morphosyntax; that is, there is no notional component. In a grammatical system, such features occur in contrast to one another other, and are typically expressed in the same fashion [Crystal 1985: 43-44; Hopper, P. 1992: 81; Bybee 1985: 191].

MorphosyntacticFeature is the class of linguistic features that govern the grammatical behavior of morphosyntactic units. E.g., two morphosyntactic units can agree according to shared morphosyntactic features. Morphosyntactic features are also called grammatical categories. This class is intended to represent only the formal aspects of morphosyntax; that is, there is no notional component. In a grammatical system, such features occur in contrast to one another other, and are typically expressed in the same fashion. [Crystal 1985: 43-44; Hopper, P. 1992: 81; Bybee 1985: 191]

A construction that expresses the contradiction of some or all of a proposition [Crystal 1980: 257]. Note: this value is not to be confused with the notion "Negative Polarity Item", which is an expression that occurs in the scope of Negation (i.e. Negative Polarity).

NominativeCase identifies clause subjects in nominative-accusative languages. It is usually the unmarked case. Nouns used in isolation often have this case [Crystal 1980: 242; Pei and Gaynor 1954: 147; Hartmann and Stork 1972: 224].

NominativeCase identifies clause subjects in nominative-accusative languages. It is usually the unmarked case. Nouns used in isolation often have this case. [Crystal 1980: 242; Pei and Gaynor 1954: 147; Hartmann and Stork 1972: 224]

A value of Aspect Property (also stative aspect) assigned to the designated element in the clause when the meaning selected for the clause is that which indicates that the situation spoken about has internal temporal structure, it cannot be regarded as habitual, but is regarded as a continuing state. Hence, Nonprogressive Aspect can be regarded as a sub-type of continuousness (which, in turn, is a sub-type of imperfectivity). Since languages have different criteria for classifying predicates as stative or not, they may have different rules for determining when explicitly nonprogressive (i.e. explicitly stative) forms can be used.
Typically, for an aspect value to be labelled as Nonprogressive, the aspectual meaning has to minimally express nonprogressiveness, although it may additionally express other temporal, aspectual, or modal meanings, or actionality distinctions.

A value of Aspect Property (also stative aspect) assigned to the designated element in the clause when the meaning selected for the clause is that which indicates that the situation spoken about has internal temporal structure, it cannot be regarded as habitual, but is regarded as a continuing state. Hence, Nonprogressive Aspect can be regarded as a sub-type of continuousness (which, in turn, is a sub-type of imperfectivity). Since languages have different criteria for classifying predicates as stative or not, they may have different rules for determining when explicitly nonprogressive (i.e. explicitly stative) forms can be used.
Typically, for an aspect value to be labelled as Nonprogressive, the aspectual meaning has to minimally express nonprogressiveness, although it may additionally express other temporal, aspectual, or modal meanings, or actionality distinctions.

A value of Aspect Property (also stative aspect) assigned to the designated element in the clause when the meaning selected for the clause is that which indicates that the situation spoken about has internal temporal structure, it cannot be regarded as habitual, but is regarded as a continuing state. Hence, Nonprogressive Aspect can be regarded as a sub-type of continuousness (which, in turn, is a sub-type of imperfectivity). Since languages have different criteria for classifying predicates as stative or not, they may have different rules for determining when explicitly nonprogressive (i.e. explicitly stative) forms can be used.
Typically, for an aspect value to be labelled as Nonprogressive, the aspectual meaning has to minimally express nonprogressiveness, although it may additionally express other temporal, aspectual, or modal meanings, or actionality distinctions.

NumberProperty is the class of properties that concern the grammatical encoding of quantity. It is often found on nouns, pronouns, and verbs and expresses count distinctions--such as 'one' or 'more than one'. The count distinctions typically, but not always, correspond to the actual count of the referents of the marked noun or Pronoun [Crystal 1980: 245; Hartmann and Stork 1972,: 155].

NumberProperty is the class of properties that concern the grammatical encoding of quantity. It is often found on nouns, pronouns, and verbs and expresses count distinctions--such as 'one' or 'more than one'. The count distinctions typically, but not always, correspond to the actual count of the referents of the marked noun or Pronoun. [Crystal 1980: 245; Hartmann and Stork 1972,: 155]

NumberProperty is the class of properties that concern the grammatical encoding of quantity. It is often found on nouns, pronouns, and verbs and expresses count distinctions--such as 'one' or 'more than one'. The count distinctions typically, but not always, correspond to the actual count of the referents of the marked noun or Pronoun. [Crystal 1980: 245; Hartmann and Stork 1972: 155]

A numeral is a partOfSpeech whose members function most typically as adjectives or pronouns and express a number, or relation to the number, such as one of the following: quantity, sequence, frequency, fraction [Hartmann and Stork 1972: 155; Pei and Gaynor 1954: 149].

In a direct/oblique system or in a nominative/oblique system, oblique case is the term for all roles not marked by the direct case or nominative case. In the phrase 'the oblique cases' it is used to refer to a set of cases excluding the nominative (occasionally the nominative or accusative). [Bauer 2004: 27]

A Passive in which a basic Oblique nominal assumes the Subject relation in a corresponding nonbasic configuration. Can include locative passives, benefactive passives and instrumental passives [Klaiman 1991: 23].

A Passive in which a basic Oblique nominal assumes the Subject relation in a corresponding nonbasic configuration. Can include locative passives, benefactive passives and instrumental passives. [Klaiman 1991: 23]

A system of the art and rules of spelling according to the accepted standards, i.e., the use of the written characters of a language for forming words and sentences in conformity with the rules conventionally recognized as correct. [Pei and Gaynor 1980: 155]

OtherThanVisualEvidentiality encodes the fact that the speaker came to believe the content of the expression directly in a way other than through visual experience; they heard it, smelled it, tasted it, etc. [Palmer 2001: 36, 57].

A participle is a word which participates as both a verb (by showing tense) and as an adjective (by showing adjectival inflection). In modern usage, the term refers to a non-finite part of the verb other than the infinitive (independent of the function of these forms in the sentence). [Bauer 2004: 82]

PartitiveCase expresses the partial nature of the referent of the noun it marks, as opposed to expressing the whole unit or class of which the referent is a part. This case may be found in items such as the following: existential clauses, nouns that are accompanied by numerals or units of measure, or predications of material from which something is made. It often has a meaning similar to the English word 'some' [Pei and Gaynor 1954: 161; Richards, Platt, and Weber 1985: 208; Quirk, et al. 1985: 249; Sebeok 1946: 1214].

PartitiveCase expresses the partial nature of the referent of the noun it marks, as opposed to expressing the whole unit or class of which the referent is a part. This case may be found in items such as the following: existential clauses, nouns that are accompanied by numerals or units of measure, or predications of material from which something is made. It often has a meaning similar to the English word 'some'. [Pei and Gaynor 1954: 161; Richards, Platt, and Weber 1985: 208; Quirk, et al. 1985: 249; Sebeok 1946: 1214]

Associated with actions performed on the subject by an unspecified agent [McIntosh 1984: 108]. Refers to the category of verb forms, typically identifies with a specific morphological marking, that encode the derived diatheses in which the agent role is not linked with a subject noun phrase: Diatheis: D1=(X=AgOb)(Y+SUBabs/nom) [Shibatani 1995: 7].

A value of Aspect Property assigned to the designated element in the clause when the meaning selected for the clause is that which indicates that the event spoken about is to be viewed as a bounded whole, looked at from outside, without necessarily distinguishing any of its internal structure [Comrie 1976: 16ff).
Typically, for an aspect value to be labeled as Perfective, the aspectual meaning has to minimally express the perfective viewpoint, although it may additionally express other temporal, aspectual, or modal meanings, or actionality distinctions.

A value of Aspect Property assigned to the designated element in the clause when the meaning selected for the clause is that which indicates that the event spoken about is to be viewed as a bounded whole, looked at from outside, without necessarily distinguishing any of its internal structure [Comrie 1976,16ff).
Typically, for an aspect value to be labeled as Perfective, the aspectual meaning has to minimally express the perfective viewpoint, although it may additionally express other temporal, aspectual, or modal meanings, or actionality distinctions.

A value of Aspect Property assigned to the designated element in the clause when the meaning selected for the clause is that which indicates that the event spoken about is to be viewed as a bounded whole, looked at from outside, without necessarily distinguishing any of its internal structure [Comrie 1976: 16ff].
Typically, for an aspect value to be labeled as Perfective, the aspectual meaning has to minimally express the perfective viewpoint, although it may additionally express other temporal, aspectual, or modal meanings, or actionality distinctions.

A set of aspectual distinctions involving relations between a background situation (the reference situation) and a situation located relative to the reference situation (the denoted situation). In English, phasal distinctions are expressed by auxiliary-headed constructions, like the inceptive, progressive, and perfect constructions, whose head verbs express the aspectual class of the denoted situation. The aspectual class of the denoted situation differs from that of the reference situation [Michaelis 1998: xv]. An event may have a beginning and an end, a middle portion (continuing or changing), and also an ensuing result or an altered state. These are considered to be the various "phases" of an event. A speaker may talk about an event from the point of view of any of these individual phases, and his language may have inflectional (or other type of) markers for representing these distinctions. Since such markers indicate distinctions in the temporal structure of an event, we may regard them as belonging to the category of aspect. It has been suggested [Dik 1989: 186] that these may be grouped under a subcategory (or "level") of aspect called "phasal aspect". [Bhat 1999: 49]

A phoneme is a single speech-sound or a group of similar or related speech-sounds which function analogously in a given language and are usually represented in writing by the same letter. Bloomfield calls the phoneme "a minimum unit of distinctive sound-feature." It may be defined also as "a minimal bundle of relevant sound features." [Pei and Gaylor 1980: 167]

Phrase is the class of syntactic constructions that consist of one or more syntactic words, but lack the subject-predicate organization of a clause. Phrases get their grammatical characteristics according to what word occupies the head position; thus, all phrases have heads. [Crystal 1980: 232-233; Pei and Gaynor 1954: 169; Pike and Pike 1982: 453]

PluralNumber is a number property that quantifies the denotation of the nominal element so that: 1) it specifies that there are more than one. In this English example below, plural is shown by both the noun and the verb in (2):
(1) my dog watches television
(2) my dogs watch television
[Corbett 2000: 5]
2) additionally, but not necessarily, pluralNumber may be assigned on the basis of formal properties (e.g. pluralia tantum, or measles / *measle). 3) if pluralNumber functions as generalNumber, it may specify a lack of commitment with regard to quantification ([Corbett 2000: 17] notes this system does not exist in pure form, that is, no language employs it as the normal case).
Some Cushitic languages, generalNumber can be the same as singularNumber for some nouns, but the same as pluralNumber for other nouns. For example, in Arbore (arv), generalNumber may contrast with the singular in the absence of a distinct plural form: Ln Singular Ln tiis-in 'a maize cob' Ln lasa-n 'a loaf'
nebel-in 'a cock ostrich' ln General ln tíise 'maize cob(s)' ln lássa 'bread' ln nebel 'ostrich(es)' ln [Corbett 2000: 17-18]

PlusClick refers to having the properties of a click. Clicks are stops in which the essential component is the rarefaction of air enclosed between two articulatory closures formed in the oral cavity, so that a loud transient is produced when the more forward closure is released. This uses the velaric airstream mechanism, always ingressive, and cannot be used for sounds other than stops and affricates. [Ladefoged and Maddieson 1996: 246]

Predicator is the class of syntactic words that are fundamentally relation inducing. That is, predicators license argument structure [Anderson 1997: 14]. Verbs are quintessential predicators, though other categories, such as determiners and some nouns, are also predicative in nature.

PreHodiernalPastTense locates the situation in question before that of a contrasting HodiernalPastTense. According to Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca [1994: 98], this category must be defined relative to a HodiernalPastTense.

A ProForm is a partOfSpeech whose members usually substitute for other constituents, including phrases, clauses, or sentences, and whose meaning is recoverable from the linguistic or extralinguistic context [Schachter 1985: 24-25; Crystal 1997: 310].

A ProForm is a partOfSpeech whose members usually substitute for other constituents, including phrases, clauses, or sentences, and whose meaning is recoverable from the linguistic or extralinguistic context [Crystal 1997: 310; Schachter 1985: 24-25].

A value of Aspect Property (also called Nonstative aspect) assigned to the designated element in the clause when the meaning selected for the clause is that which indicates that the situation spoken about has internal temporal structure, it cannot be regarded as habitual, and reference is made to this situation in progress. Hence, progressiveness can be defined as the combination of progressive meaning with nonstative meaning, and it can be regarded as a sub-type of continuousness (which, in turn, is a sub-type of imperfectivity). Since languages have different criteria for classifying predicates as stative or not, they may have different rules for determining when explicitly progressive forms can be used.
Typically, for an aspect value to be labelled as Progressive, the aspectual meaning has to minimally express progressiveness, although it may additionally express other temporal, aspectual, or modal meanings, or actionality distinctions.

A value of Aspect Property (also called Nonstative aspect) assigned to the designated element in the clause when the meaning selected for the clause is that which indicates that the situation spoken about has internal temporal structure, it cannot be regarded as habitual, and reference is made to this situation in progress. Hence, progressiveness can be defined as the combination of progressive meaning with nonstative meaning, and it can be regarded as a sub-type of continuousness (which, in turn, is a sub-type of imperfectivity). Since languages have different criteria for classifying predicates as stative or not, they may have different rules for determining when explicitly progressive forms can be used.
Typically, for an aspect value to be labelled as Progressive, the aspectual meaning has to minimally express progressiveness, although it may additionally express other temporal, aspectual, or modal meanings, or actionality distinctions.

ProperNoun, also referred to as proper names, is the class of nouns that are used to address particular persons or culturally significant personages or places. They refer to specific entities and are not usually with articles, modifiers, possessors. [Payne 1997: 39]

RecentPastTense locates the situation in question prior to the present moment, but by culturally and situationally defined criteria, usually within the span ranging from yesterday to a week or a few months previous [Comrie 1985: 87; Dahl 1985: 121-122].

RelativeFutureTense locates the situation in question after a contextually determined temporal reference point, regardless of the latter's relation to the moment of utterance. Also called FuturePerfectTense. [Comrie 1985: 69-71]

RelativeFutureTense locates the situation in question after a contextually determined temporal reference point, regardless of the latter's relation to the moment of utterance [Comrie 1985: 69-71]. Also called FuturePerfectTense.

A relativizer is a subordinating connective that links a relative clause to its head noun. It is distinguishable from a relative pronoun in that it does not have a nominal function within the relative clause. [Payne 1997: 332]

RemoteFutureTense locates the situation in question at a time that is considered relatively distant. It is characteristically after the span of time culturally defined as 'tomorrow'. [Dahl 1985: 121; Comrie 1985: 94]

RemotePastTense locates the situation in question prior to the present moment, usually more than a few days ago [Dahl 1985: 121; Comrie 1985: 88]. Subsumes notion of PreHesternalPast tense, which locates the situation in question before that of an opposing hesternal past tense [Bybee, Perkins, Pagliuca 1994: 98].

Salience relates to the way in which certain actants present in a situation are seized on by humans as foci of attention, with attention being paid to less salient, less individuated objects subsequently [Comrie 1989: 199]. It has been argued that salience explains the evolution of certain syntactic changes, as well as the predominance of word orders where the subject precedes the object, due to the the salience of the agent in the agent-action-patient situation [Comrie 1989; Timberlake 1977].

Salience relates to the way in which certain actants present in a situation are seized on by humans as foci of attention, with attention being paid to less salient, less individuated objects subsequently [Comrie 1989: 199]. It has been argued that salience explains the evolution of certain syntactic changes, as well as the predominance of word orders where the subject precedes the object, due to the the salience of the agent in the agent-action-patient situation [Comrie 1989, Timberlake 1977].

A discrete unit that can be identified in the stream of speech, either physically or auditorily. Features that extend over more than one segment, such as pitch or stress, are termed suprasegmentals. [Crystal 2003; Hartmann & Stork 1972]

A discrete unit that can be identified in the stream of speech, either physically or auditorily. Features that extend over more than one segment, such as pitch or stress, are termed suprasegmentals. [Crystal 2003: 408–409; Hartmann & Stork 1972: 202]

For natural language understanding, the process of fine-grain semantic role assignment is one of the prominent steps, which provides semantic relations between constituents. The sense and sense relations between constituents provide the core meaning of a sentence. Abstract
semantic roles include thematic roles, such as
agent, theme, and instrument, and secondary roles such as
location, time, and manner. [Chen & You 2004: 1]

For natural language understanding, the process of fine-grain semantic role assignment is one of the prominent steps, which provides semantic relations between constituents. The sense and sense relations between constituents provide the core meaning of a sentence. Abstract semantic roles include thematic roles, such as agent, theme, and instrument, and secondary roles such as location, time, and manner. [Chen & You 2004: 1]

If the agent outranks the patient on the relevant generic topic hierarchy, the direct-active clause is used. If the relevant norm is reversed and the patient outranks the agent on the relevant hierarchy, the inverse clause is used. [Givon 1994: 23]

SpeculativeForce indicates that the speaker considers, or 'entertains', the content of the expression. That is, it is in the realm of possibility, though the speaker does not necessarilty believe it. [Palmer 2001: 6-8, 25]

A subordinating connective is a connective that links constructions by making one of them a constituent of another. The subordinating conjunction typically marks the incorporated constituent. [Crystal 1997: 370]

A substantive is a member of the syntactic class in which the names of physical, concrete, relatively unchanging experiences are most typically found whose members may act as subjects and objects, and most of whose members have inherently determined grammatical gender (in languages which inflect for gender) [Crystal 1997: 264; Givon 1984: 51-52; Payne 1997: 33].

An affix, consisting of a letter, syllable, or syllables, that follows a stem or word, modifying its meaning. Suffixes may be inflectional or derivational. [Crystal 1987; Hartmann & Stork 1972; Pei & Gaynor 1980]

An affix, consisting of a letter, syllable, or syllables, that follows a stem or word, modifying its meaning. Suffixes may be inflectional or derivational. [Crystal 1987: 431; Hartmann and Stork 1972: 225; Pei and Gaynor 1980: 207]

That form of an adjective that expresses that the thing to which it refers possesses a certain quality or attribute to the highest or lowest degree when compared to any other thing. [Hartmann & Stork 1972; Pei & Gaynor 1980]

That form of an adjective that expresses that the thing to which it refers possesses a certain quality or attribute to the highest or lowest degree when compared to any other thing [Hartmann & Stork 1972: 60; Pei & Gaynor 1980: 207].

That form of an adjective that expresses that the thing to which it refers possesses a certain quality or attribute to a greater extent than to any other thing [Hartmann & Stork 1972: 60; Pei & Gaynor 1980: 207].

That form of an adjective that expresses that the thing to which it refers possesses a certain quality or attribute to a greater extent than to any other thing [Hartmann and Stork 1972: 60; Pei and Gaynor 1980: 207].

Ladefoged (2000: 276) contends that there is no satisfactory definition for this unit of speech, but that syllables seem to be necessary units in the mental organization and production of utterances. However, Crystal (1987: 431) defines the syllable as an element of speech that acts as a unit of rhythm, consisting of a vowel, syllabic, or vowel/consonant combination.

Ladefoged [2000: 276] contends that there is no satisfactory definition for this unit of speech, but that syllables seem to be necessary units in the mental organization and production of utterances. However, Crystal [1987: 431] defines the syllable as an element of speech that acts as a unit of rhythm, consisting of a vowel, syllabic, or vowel/consonant combination.

Ladefoged contends that there is no satisfactory definition for this unit of speech, but that syllables seem to be necessary units in the mental organization and production of utterances. However, Crystal defines the syllable as an element of speech that acts as a unit of rhythm, consisting of a vowel, syllabic, or vowel/consonant combination. [Crystal 1987: 431; Ladefoged 2000: 276]

Properties may be stated to be symmetric. If a property is symmetric, then if the pair (x,y) is an instance of the symmetric property P, then the pair (y,x) is also an instance of P. For example, friend may be stated to be a symmetric property. Then a reasoner that is given that Frank is a friend of Deborah can deduce that Deborah is a friend of Frank. [McGuinness & van Harmelen 2004]

SyntacticArgument is the class of syntactic words that are fundamentally referable and non-relational [Anderson 1997: 15]. Proper names are the quintessential arguments, though pronouns and nouns possess argument properties.

Following [Comrie 1985: vii], we take tense to be the grammaticalisation of location in time. Tense Property is assigned to clauses on the basis of semantics: a tense value is selected for the clause from the range of tense values available in the given language. Tense Property is typically realised on the verb, but it may be found expressed multiply on different elements in the same clause. For example, tense may be found on more than one element of the verbal complex (e.g. in Kayardild [Evans 2003] or Paamese [Crowley 2002: 68], or on verbs as well as on certain spatial and temporal adverbs and certain prepositions in the same clause (e.g. in Malagasy [Randriamasimanana 1981: 355-367], [Keenan and Polinsky 1998: 566-567].
In the given language, the values of the Tense Property are assigned to the designated elements as a consequence of semantic choice, and all the available options of particular tense values expressing particular tense meanings can be described with a Tense Assignment System for that language. Since no languages have been found for which tense values are assigned by a Tense Distribution System (i.e. contextually, through agreement or government), Tense Property is not a Morphosyntactic Property. Instead, it is a Morphosemantic Property only.

Cases expressing spatial relations (also semantic) can be grouped into four broad directional classes: cases expressing location ('at'), goal ('to'), source ('from'), and path ('through, along'). The basic terms for these are: locative, allative, ablative, and perlative. Additionally, the label terminative is used for a movement that goes all the way to its endpoint, and orientative - for a movement that goes only in the direction of its goal.. [Kibort 2008]

In Web Ontology Language, Thing is the superclass of all classes. The most basic concepts in a domain should correspond to classes that are the roots of various taxonomic trees. Every individual in the OWL world is a member of the class owl:Thing. Thus each user-defined class is implicitly a subclass of owl:Thing. Domain specific root classes are defined by simply declaring a named class. [McGuinness, Smith, & Welty 2004]

Proximative refers to one or more non-participants that are in some way distinct/closer to the speaker than other non-participants. Third person proximative contrasts with third person obviative. Often called 'Third Person Proximate' or '4th person'. [Kibort, 2008]

Refers to one or more non-participants that are in some way distinct/closer to the speaker than other non-participants. Third person proximative contrasts with third person obviative. Often called 'Third Person Proximate' or '4th person'. [Kibort, 2008]

Refers to one or more non-participants that are in some way distinct/closer to the speaker than other non-participants. Third person proximative contrasts with third person obviative. Often called 'Third Person Proximate' or '4th person'. [Kibort 2008]

Those grammatical features which are used systematically to express certain relationships between the participants in a communicative situation and the actions, states, or circumstances in which they are involved [Hartmann & Stork 1972: 242].

Those grammatical features which are used systematically to express certain relationships between the participants in a communicative situation and the actions, states, or circumstances in which they are involved [Hartmann & Stork 1972: 242]. According to Hopper and Thompson [1980: 251] transitivity is traditionally understood as a global property of an entire clause, such that an activity is 'carried-over' or 'transferred' from an agent to a patient.

Those grammatical features which are used systematically to express certain relationships between the participants in a communicative situation and the actions, states, or circumstances in which they are involved [Hartmann & Stork 1972: 242]. According to Hopper and Thompson, transitivity is traditionally understood as a global property of an entire clause, such that an activity is 'carried-over' or 'transferred' from an agent to a patient. [Hopper & Thompson 1980: 251]

TranslativeCase expresses that the referent of the noun, or the quality of the adjective, that it marks is the result of a process of change [Lyons 1968: 299-301; Sebeok 1946: 17; Hakulinen 1961: 70]. X along, across Y.

Trial is a number property that quantifies the denotation of the nominal element so that it specifies that there are exactly three.
In this example from Larike (alo), trialNumber is expressed on the pronoun: Ln Duma hima aridu naʔa Ln house that 1.TRIAL.EXCL own.it Ln 'We three own that house' Ln [Corbett 2000: 21]

A Verbal is a part of speech whose members typically signal events and actions; constitute, singly or in a phrase, a minimal predicate in a clause; govern the number and types of other constituents which may occur in the clause; and, in inflectional languages, may be inflected for tense, aspect, voice, modality, or agreement with other constituents in person, number, or grammatical gender [Crystal 1997: 409; Givon 1984: 52; Payne 1997: 47].

VoiceProperty is the class of properties that concern the grammatical encoding of the relationship between the verb and the nominals in a subject-predicate configuration. It selects a grammatically prominent syntactic constituent--subject--from the underlying semantic functions. In accusative language, the basic strategy is to select an agent as a subject [Shibatani 1988: 3]. It can be said that all voice systems mark the affectedness/nonaffectedness of sentential subjects [Klaiman 1988: 30]. Voice is also known as diathesis [Klaiman 1991: 323].